The present invention relates generally to improvements in vehicle safety devices, and it relates particularly to an improved safety belt take-up reel of the automatic inertia actuated locking type.
There are numerous forms of vehicle safety belt systems in which the seat occupant who is engaged by the safety belt is not restrained, and is thus free to move during normal conditions by reason of the safety belt which is spring retracted, being freely withdrawable, but in which, consequent to an abnormal condition such as a rapid positive or negative acceleration or any action which tends to hurl the occupant out of the seat, the belt is automatically locked against withdrawal to restrain the occupant from leaving the seat. A device which has been proposed for use in such systems is a spring biased belt retraction reel, in which an inertia responsive mechanism actuated by the rapid withdrawal of the safety belt functions to lock the reel against further belt withdrawal. The inertia locking reels of this type heretofore available, however, possess numerous drawbacks and disadvantages. They are expensive and often unreliable devices, an otherwise leave much to be desired. Contributing to such disadvantages, is the need to form the complete device of a strong material such as steel, and to very close tolerances to assure their proper and reliable operation, with the result that these devices are either very expensive or of little reliability, and subject to malfunctioning.